Excellet Job All!

Hi Everyone,

Just taking advantage of this soap box to tell you everyone has been doing a terrific job!!

We'll blow their socks off Saturday!!

Tori

Twelfth Props Request

Twelfth is currently scouting for two additional props.

 

If anyone has - or knows where to procure - a hand-held mirror or a potted plant (which you don't love too much), please contact Tori ( tori @ winntec.com ).

 

Thanks!

House Staff Volunteers needed

Hey everyone.. we desperately need people to volunteer for house staff - helping take donations, crowd control, etc.

Obviously, we don't want actors who will be on that night to be working as staff, so we need you all to con... er.. convince... your housemates, friends, enemies, etc to volunteer. Volunteers get invited to the festival wrap party!

Also - if any actors or crew, say from Twelfth Night could volunteer on any nights they aren't performing, and if any from Two Precious could do the same for Twelfth Night nights, that would help our problem quite a bit. Saturday will be tricky due to the fact that everyone is on, so that day we will especially need others to help.

Crowd control could be a serious problem in the hollow, with potentially large crowds. We would like to keep things safe and sane, with a healthy number of volunteers.

Please email if interested, and I will forward to our house manager!

Thanks!

TORI WHERE ARE YOU???!!!???

Tori .... please contact me as soon as possible ... i need to know if you've been getting my e-mails about building and such.

please e-mail me at sameer_vakani@hotmail.com

thanks

-SV

 

CHtv wants us on the news this monday!

Some great news -- CHtv read our press release and now wants to do the Noon News weather report from faculty hollow with some acting going on, and a short bit about the festival!!

Wheeeeee!

Press Release is out; Daily News covers us!

Just so y'all know, we're on Daily News (dailynews.mcmaster.ca)!

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me: Lunchtime Conversation Circle

We have set up a Lunchtime Conversation Circle through the Peace Studies department for Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. It will be facilitated by Dr. Joanna Santa Barbara, a child psychologist who instructs Conflict Transformation at McMaster as part of the Peace Studies programme, and has spent much of her time working with women and children in Afghanistan.

Everyone is invited, but seeing the play beforehand is helpful of course. All departments that administer subjects related to the play in some way (IE Theatre, English, Peace Studies, History, Religous Studies) will be given a poster about this talkback to post.

The session will be on Friday July 30, 12:00 noon in TSH 719. Bring a lunch with you!

ps - see a poster... http://dalar.danbo.com/rob/talkback_lowres.png

Stage and Set Construction Times

Sameer has passed along the following information:
 

Stage and set construction will occur on

Thursday, July 22 and Friday, July 23. 

Work will begin at 6:00 PM each night and will continue for as long as there is manpower.

 

Crew and volunteers should meet on the cement pad behind the Faculty Club.

 

Everyone is welcome to come and help - give what time you have.  Friends are welcome.

More 12th Night Cast Pictures

More Twelfth Night cast pictures are up on the cast/crew webpage.

Thank you Cat!

Quickie updates

Some new stuff:

-go to here and check out the "display" files and "sota poster 2"... these are samples from the programme. They are in very high resolution so you may have to download and open with a viewer to see more than 3 sq inches of them.
-westdale invites - ran out of them, making more
-rights enquired, soon will be done
-shot run tonight for Someone!
-got quote on discounted lighting from Jaclyn - sent to Sameer

Gotta run!

"Various Stuff" updates...

Ok... lotsa news...

-Univeristy promotions has offered to promote us, by taking our press release and sending to everyone (radio, TV, Spec, etc). This includes the possibility of Daily News doing a feature.
-Display cases now have stuff in them. Yay! (Come to think of it.. where'd that fake grass from Midsummer's go?)
-Conference services has some posters, and they say the wasp problem will be no more shortly.
-Shot run is this Thursday for Someone!
-Some flyers went out to a few offices!
-Tonight at 5:30 at the MUSC Fireplace -- flyer distribution for Westdale!
-Our quote on a colour cover is 60 cents, but includes the back cover too!
-We have four confirmed talent acts, and a couple more unconfirmed.
-12th Night photos will be soon (headshots)...
-meeting tonight about the stage... faculty hollow at 6

Scream it from the roof-tops ... GO NOW!!!

It's been many weeks and you've all been working very hard ... especially with that voice projection I am sure. So find your nearest tall building (really if you're on the roof anything will do) and start telling people that your festival is coming to town and they had better get off their lazy butts and get some culture ... that's right we're playing theatre off as something cultured and don't you forget it.

Now while you're acting like crazies and screaming (projecting from your diaphragm that is) from the roof tops I have done something slightly different.

The festival is now officially going to be advertised in the local papers in the Hamilton region (ancaster star, dundas star, mountain news and hamilton news) so keep an eye out for it. With a weekly distribution of 100 000 homes we are hoping to get a 5% return (but this is theatre and we only expect a 1% return).

That's all for now.

Your friendly neighbourhood producer

-SV

12th: Fake Fist Fighting Fun!

'Twelfth Night' is having a fight coach come in on Tuesday and Thursday (July 13 and 15) at 7:00pm to show us the basics of fake fighting. Anyone is welcome to join.

If you are interested, please e-mail me (tori@winntec.com) for details.

T!

Promo and Sponsorship stuff

Hey everyone...

Brochures are now at Conference Services, who is looking into our wasp problem. We can take them some flyers too and posters when we have more.

NOW magazine should have our listing this Friday (I think that's when they go out). That is the T-dot equivalent of the View.

The MSU will be meeting on sponsoring us on Monday next week. MHS is still looking it over, and PACSS will contribute something, we just don't know how much yet.

We got quotes on a) colour covers for programmes, b) banners, and c) we need to make a list of signs needed in order to get a quote on plastic-corrigated signs.

SOTA is adding us to their website's event calendar, as is the Faculty of Humanities.

"Someone Who'll Watch Over Me" is currently being promoted through the peace organizations in Hamilton... incedentally, our Shot-Run is Thursday.

Mr. Sub

I walked over a promotions and advertising package of sorts to the Mr. Sub here on Main.

Mountain, Mac offices flyer distribution? Also - Festival Wrap Party location has been officially declared!

Firstly - I heard that Steve and Brian wanted to strap on their blades and flyer the mountain. If someone could let them know that they can grab flyers from outside the Robinson Theatre, that'd be great. Just as long as they leave a few (not too many, just leave a couple dozen behind and bring back whatever they don't use). There are roughly 250-400 flyers at the theatre, and I'd like for them all to be used.

Secondly, I'd like to recruit a couple people who are available during the daytime to give a brochure to each office on campus, as well as any flyers they might want to distribute in mailboxes. I'll look into making invites ala the Westdale flyers. The goal here is to ensure that everyone on campus knows about the festival.

Thirdly - the directors have come to the unianimous decision of having a Festival Wrap Party at the secret-hidden-SDF-HQ at 63 Cline S. More details are to come at a later date.

Fourthly - if you know of a "perfect spot" for either brochures, flyers, or a colour poster that we aren't using yet, let me know. We want to use ALL of our promotions so that our potential draw from direct promotions is maximized.

Westdale flyer distribution: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday?

It's time to start handing out our flyer-invitations to all of Westdale. On Saturday, two of us went out and did three of the routes I posted, which took routly 40 minutes per route with 2 people. 235 flyers went out - two of the routes had about 100 houses, the other only 35 but it took just as long because the houses were spread out a lot.

If we could get 10 people on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - we could have all of Wesdale done in an hour and a half each night.

And thus, I propose this: If you are available any of these days at 5:30 (and don't have rehearsal), drop by the student centre at the marketplace's fireplace and we will pair people off and send them out on two routes for the evening (or more if they have more time and are willing). If you are available during other times of the day and want to help out, let us know and we will give you flyers and a route. And of course, if you know someone outside of the festival who wants to help, bring them along!

Twelfth Night - Pictures & Song

If you're in the cast of Twelfth Night, please go to the cast/crew webpage.

The song we'll be using for the finale is posted there. Please listen to it and practice it.
There are more details on the site.

There are also some new pictures, donated by Brian.

First of the Westdale flyers out...

About 235 flyers went out over 2 hours today, with two of us doing 3 routes. Each route is about 30-45 minutes for 2 people.

We of course now need to make more than 800 flyers, since these numbers mean that over 3000 houses are in Westdale. The good thing is that the flyers are cheap to make (less than 2 cents a flyer) and all we need are 3 people per 800 to come out to pay for them.

Tonight is 2 Precious Maidens Shot Line Run! See you there...

Risk Management forms

Some fun forms are available now for everyone to fill out! :P

Everyone will need to sign a waiver for the festival. I will be filling out an event risk assesment form, and declaring myself as PEO on it (primary event organiser).

I have forms photocopied and ready to fill out. All cast and crew will need to fill out one.

Westdale Resident Invites made...

We now have about 800 flyers for Westdale, which I hope will be enough (but there will likely be more houses than 800)

I'd like to have a couple nights next week where we can call in any actors from any production that have time on their schedules and are willing to help promote for an hour or so. I have divided up Westdale into 37 "routes", each being relatively equal.

Even a couple nights may not cover all of Westdale, so if anyone is willing to choose a neighbourhood to do on their spare time, that's fine too - just as long as you do the perscribed route so that we can have the most effective coverage, and not be handing out multiple invites to the same houses.

If you see a route or three you just want to do on your spare time, email me and I'll arrange for the proper flyers to get to you.

Link to Map of Westdale-Ainslie

The list of routes is as follows:

North Westdale (north of King and east of Cline)
Franklin Ave & streets north of Franklin
Norwood Rd & streets between Norwood and Franklin
east side of Longwood Rd & streets east of Longwood and south of Norwood
west side of Longwood Rd & streets west of Longwood and south of Norwood

South Westdale (north of Main, east of Mac, excl. North Westdale)
Sterling St.
King St. (Mac to Longwood; homes only)
Dalewood Ave (north of main) & Dalewood Cres & Shady Pl
Dromore Cres & Oak Knoll
Haddon Ave (N of main)
Cline Ave (N of Main)
North Oval & South Oval
Forsythe Ave, Forsyth Pl, Mayfair Pl, & Mayfair Dr
Main Street (mac to longwood, both sides; homes only), Craymore Av & Arnold St
Longwood Rd S & Bond St S
Paradise Rd S, Olmstead St, Macklin St S, Carling St, Tope Cr & King St (from 403 to Longwood; homes only)
Marion Ave
Barclay St & Arkell St

Ainslie Wood North (north of Main and west of Mac)
Norfolk St N & Thorndale Cr & Thorndale St N
Sanders Blvd & West Park Ave
Hollywood St N, Kingsmount St N, Cotrill St, Binkley Cr, & Lakelet Dr
Binkley Rd, Daleview Cr, Westbourne Rd & Main St (from West Park to Mac; homes only)

Ainslie Wood (south of main, west of Kingsmount St S, east of the hydro towers)
Rifle Range Rd, Ewen Rd, Iona Ave, Yarmouth Ct, Brodick St, & Granton St

Ainslie Wood East (east of Ainslie Wood, south of Main)
*Whitney Ave (west of Emerson to the power lines), Merna Ave & Holmes Ave *(crosses into Ainslie Wood)
Kingsmount St S, Glenmount Ave, Hollywood St S, Thorndale St S, & Norfolk St S
Leland St, Mapes Ave, & Aylett St
Sussex St & Westwood Ave
Emerson St
Broadway St
Bowman St
Stroud Rd, Baxter St, Winston Ave, & Delbrook Ct
Royal Ave, Ward Ave, Wilmont Ct & Winston Pl
Whitney Ave (east of Emerson), Willowforest Ave, Hillview St, Ainslie Ave, & Clifford St
Dalewood Ave (south of main), Gary Ave, Haddon Ave S, Cline Ave S, Paul St, Southview Pl, & Dow Ave

Ainslie Wood West (west of the power lines)
Main St (from power lines to where it becomes Wilson St; homes only)
Whitney Ave (west of power lines), Ofield Rd, Ramsey Ct, Radford St, Beaucourt Rd, & Beaucourt Pl
Mericourt Rd, Blackwood Cr, Carwyn Cr, Yates Dr, Purvis Dr & Elizabeth Ct
Lower Horning Rd, Harold Ct, Harold St, Butty Pl, & Sheridan Ln

Tis a fine barn ... but 'tis no stage ...

Do you enjoy working outdoors?

Have you ever used a drill, a hammer, a screwdriver, a level, or a pencil?

Do you enjoy the feeling you get when you choke on saw dust because you inhaled while using a circular saw?

Do you want to be a shop teacher but can't get a job because you still have all 10 fingers?

If you answered Yes or NO to any of the above question please keep reading ... if you didn't answer yes or no, read them again and then continue reading.

The time has come to build a stage, and being a low budget production we're going to do it ourselves. This means that we are going to take the blueprints I draw up, break into 10 teams of 2 or 3 and just go nuts ... under my very close supervision. However to make this work I need your help. If you have any wood-working experience and are willing to be a "team leader" please e-mail at vakanis@rogers.com letting me know. If you have NO experience and just want to help please write to me letting me know that as well.

In all likelyhood we will do the build on thursday and friday night (22nd and 23rd)so if you can make time and come help we'd love to have you.

Here is the general plan ... it's not set in stone, but it's a starting point:

Thursday night: cut down cootes paradise for wood, steal wood planer, make 2x4 and 4x4 as well as 3/4 inch ply. Mine iron out of newly clear cut hills to make screws and nails.(or go to home depot and just buy the stuff)

Bring wood to faculty hollow and make all cuts according to plans.

Build Flats (each flat is 8' by 4') it'll be like assembling ikea furniture ... except it'll work the way it's supposed to.

Attach legs to flats (this requires the most people, lots of lifting and screwing ... trust me it'll be fun)

Attach 3/4 ply on top of flats.

Friday: Build stairs, paint everything black, set up lighting for shows.

Ok, so it's been a long post and you'll get it in an e-mail too, please get back to me ASAP as I could really use your help (if it's just me and Tori this might take longer than we expect).

That's all for now

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Producer

-SV

Posters, Health & Safety, Programme...

I've had a few colour posters printed for the MUSC, and our sponsors. Union Market has a colour poster now, as does MUSC Admin (3 colour 7 b/w), the clubs board has a colour poster, Brian Prince has a colour poster, and Global Village and Chez Bonbon have b/w posters. I need to get a colour one to the Staircase soon.. that won't be hard though.

Patrick has sent me Health and Safety documents for the shows. I'll distribute them by having Jared upload the doc and linking it here.

Some of the programme is done.. just need some bios and a lot of photos and that section is done.

Bios still needed from:

The following folks have yet to submit a bio. Directors still have until Sunday.

Michael Atlin
Simon DeAbreu
Kait MacMurray
Kristen Pearson
Kevin Griffiths
Vanessa Bell
Kevin Holditch
Julie Hyde
Victoria Oswell
Sameer Vakani
Cheryl Lochhead
Brian De Boer

90 words, if you go over don't worry but don't get too carried away.

Website Updated

Rob's updates to the website, to reflect our new sponsorship from Coke, have been uploaded.

News.. good news!

So.. some updates:

-Coke has sponsored us! Yay! This major sponsorship will be reflected on the website soon.
-Sponsorships in general should be on the website shortly
-2PMR Shotrun-BBQ is this Saturday... if you're coming, it's a potluck BBQ so bring something...
-Compass should actually have the brochures out shortly (some forms had to be filled out, etc)
-finished advertising graphics for the newspapers

Please get your bio in if you haven't yet. :)

12th Night Preliminary Prop List

It's about time we got you guys some toys to play with, so here is the preliminary prop list. Items may be added or changed at a later date.

If you have any items that you would like to donate or concept ideas for items, please e-mail me at 'tori@winntec.com'.

Please be advised: Do not offer items of value to you (either monetary or sentimental). Items are sometimes lost or broken during the course of a production.

Now onto the list:

- rings/lockets/love tokens
- money
- bag + gorceries
- 2 sets of wedding bands (or visual facimilie) [for Olivia/Sebastian and Maria/Toby]
- durable paper for letters (Malvolio's, Duke's love letter, etc.)
- pocket watch + chain (for Malvolio)
- glasses (for Orsino and co.)
- tankards (for Sir Toby and Andrew)
- tray
- dishes, household glasses, etc.
- wine bottles or the like...

T!

More updates

Ok.. so here's what's new:

-flyers are at the Union Market now!
-brochures at the Art Gallery
-MHS, MSU, and PACCS were solicited for sponsorship
-we have been approved to use the display case on the second floor of MUSC
-12th night or 2 Precious: if you have rehearsal in the hollow today, you might have trouble... there's a film on location there at the moment
-"Someone" now has stage managers. yay!
-ads go out soon for newspapers

That's all for now...

More stuff from Rob

Hey everyone.. the Silhouette article is now out on SDF. It's short, it's kinda thrown together last minute, but at least we have the publicity. They did miquote me on a couple things, but nothing too major. Just so you all know, they do plan on reviewing each play at the moment, and they are still deciding if the August Sil will come out on August's first week, or July's last week. If it's July's last week, it would be neat since the reviews would be out during the festival. No word yet on the spec, and we're going to try and see if the View wants to put an article in about us...

As you may now know, this blog is for all the festival. This is in the interest of me not having to email the updates in seperate emails to all directors/stage managers, and so it's in one place, and because it's easier than email. I can write one of these quickly, come back and edit any errors, whereas emails are gone once you send them...

Sameer has told me that tomorrow or so we will hear back from one of our potential large sponsors. As well, final staging plans are in the works, and a dress rehearsal schedule (for each show and the festival itself) is also near finalizing.

If you have not submitted a bio, send it now! Email mcmaster_sdf@yahoo.ca with it. These were due last Saturday. A reminder to directors that your notes (and bios, I guess ... I'll be nice) are due next weekend. I'm okay with them being in by Sunday.

That's all for now...

National Post Article on Outdoor Shakespeare

I saw a full page spread on outdoor shakespearean theatre in the National Post this weekend. I tore it out and gave it to Rob.

Two things:

The article included some good advice for people attending the outdoor performances. We could adapt this material and post it on our website.

The article mentions a "pay-what-you-can" production of As You Like It that is ongoing in Toronto. Maybe we could organize a group trip sometime soon for the cast and crew?

A Call For Sponsorship Help

I sent an email to the 12th cast asking if they, or anyone they knew, had some time to help with sponsorship letter distribution this week.

If anyone wants to help, I asked them to contact myself or Rob.

Site Stats as of July 5 (12:20 AM)

Here's an update on the site statistics:

Visits / Day
Jul 4	13
Jul 3	6
Jul 2	17
Jul 1	3

If anyone wants more specific details, let me (Jared) know. I have access to quite a bit of information regarding how people are finding the site, what pages they visit, and so on.

Update from Rob

-Silhouette took pics and did a follow up interview
-a few letters went out for downtown businesses (20)
-scheduled SWWOM rehearsals until performance
-BIOS DUE TODAY! I only have about half of them at most
-we desperately need someone to just hand out letters to businesses in Dundas and on Locke, or any untouched in Westdale. If you can, please call Jared (Jared - the letters are in the living room on the black side-table). One letter and brochure per business. I cannot do this myself as I work during business hours.
List of businesses covered:

Westdale area:
PC-in-Motion
Queen of Net
TCBY
Bryan Prince, Bookseller
Adventure Attic
Pita Pit
Loonytique
Pita Planet
Bean Bar
Write Impressions
Global Market
"The" Boutique
Scarlett Runner Plants & Gifts
Runner's Den
Comic Connection
Westdale Bookworm
Quill's
Pierik's Cycle
Basilisque
Cottage Florist
The Picture Frame
Westdale Florist
The Villager
Vital Planet (has brochures)
Jack Currath Shoes
DLR
Klassy Closet
Walker's Chocolates
The Casual Gourmet
Westdale Optician
Zenith TV
Westdal Theatre
1010 Bistro
Chez Bonbon (will contribute door prize; has brochures)
Snooty Fox
Turtle Pond
Zoran Designs
Weil's of Westdale
Fred Astaire's

Locke & Dundern Streets/Area:
Portugese Bakery
Staircase Theatre (will contribute at least $50, maybe $100 - I am to contact Rob on wednesday at 2; has brochures)
J. Taylor Antiques
Antiques on Locke
Locke Street Antiques

Technical Meetings: ASM and Props

There are two technical meetings scheduled for next week:

ASM Meeting: Monday, July 5th at 5:30pm

Props: Tuesday, July 6th at 7:00pm

Both meetings will meet by the Fireplace in the Student Centre.
Anyone is welcome to attend either meeting.

T!

Schedule Change

There is one change to next week's schedule:

A3S4-#3 is on Tuesday, July 6th from 9:00-10:00pm
A3S4-#2 is on Wednesday, July 7th from 9:00-10:00pm

Essentially Sections #2 and #3 swapped spots. If you are in either of those scenes, this is just a reminder to adjust your schedules accordingly.

T!

Update from my side...

Stuff done today and yesterday:

•50 new letters photocopied for businesses - hopefully these can go out this weekend. Need help distributing them; Westdale is nearly done but Locke, Downtown, Dundas, and Upper Hamilton need coverage
•100 new brochures photocopied.. not as good of quality versus the printed ones, but usable
•Compass and Mills Library (reference desk) now have brochures (folks working at the library plan on coming and can't wait!)
•Silhouette interview was today, will be out on July 5; they will take some photos during rehearsal but can only really publish one photo
•applied to make use of MSU clubs display case... will hear back on Monday
•met with Cheryl to discuss Talent Shows and M.C.'ing, display cases, and stage possibilities
•we're now on Cable 14 community calendar
•filled out blog

Things to do this weekend and next week:

•Someone needs a new Stage Manager, and an assistant. Contact me if you know of someone interested. Needs to be someone not already cast in a play.
•Hand out letters to businesses (need help)
•Drop a brochure at every office on campus for awareness (need help)
•Get Sameer to sign an invitation to Westdale residents
•Plan a mass distribution of invitation-flyers to westdale homes
•Colour promos should be in, distribute them
•Get bio photos taken, get a programme person (or find time to do layout)
•Try to convince The View to write an article on us!
•Schedule tech week/dress rehearsals, invite The Sil et al for reviewing
•bookmark promotion idea: check with libraries/bookstores to see if they would mind helping us out

And I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting. Anyhow, anyone with ability to help on the immediate needs, let me know.

New Rehearsal Schedule Sent Out

Late last night the new rehearsal schedule for July 2 - July 9 was sent out by email.  If you haven't received a copy, please contact Tori immediately.

 

Please note that this new schedule replaces the one sent out earlier in the week.

Shot Run Photos Available

Cat is incredibly excited that some of the shot run photos are now available on the Twelfth Night cast and crew page.

Site Stats as of July 1 (1:20 PM)

We finally got the statistics feature of the summer drama festival website working properly. We started collecting numbers on June 27.

Here are the results so far. Remember that a lot of flyers went out earlier in the month:

Visits / Day
Jul 1	0
Jun 30	6
Jun 29	6
Jun 28	11
Jun 27	5

O Patrick, where art thou?

I emailed Rob about Patrick's schedule.  I gave him Tori's "theatre" email address so that he could contact her directly.

 

Tori is interested in meeting with Patrick to go over our set ideas.  We figure we could benefit from his advice.

Your ideas intrigue me ... I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter

Great Idea Jared,

this post is useless, it contains no valuable information, and it was posted strictly so that I could say things that I would yell in a crowded room (as per your instructions:)) after this my post will be more useful.

If you have continued reading I am about to embark on the task of writing a slue of Shakespearean insults:

thou:
witless white-livered villiago
spongy three-suited ticklebrain
slobbery sheep-biting rabbit-sucker
reeky rank-scented quatch-buttock
overgorged motley-minded princox
panderly hell-goverened oxhead
lumpish hollow-eyed miscreant
heinous eye-offending jack-a-nape
gorbellied fat-kindeyed fleshmonger
finical clay-brained dullard
chulish barren-spirited codpiece

thanks for you time

-Sameer